Genesis 5 Notes
My daughter showed me a video on TikTok of a young guy claiming that when you take the names of all the people in Genesis 5, and the meanings of the root Hebrew word for their names, and put them in order, you get a sentence. The sentence he claimed it said is:
My Version/Translation:
The proposed statement below is merely one of several possibilities based on range of meaning that each name carries. With that said, the reader should note that the basic idea remains the same regardless of the exact wording. Much of the sentence is phrased to provide a smooth reading. The possibilities will become evident as each name is examined. The basic idea that does not change, based on each name’s meaning is as follows:
[Man] [appointed] [mortality/death] [redeemed] [the Shining One of God] [comes down] [anointed one, walked with God in righteousness, approved by God and taken by God so that He would be victorious over death] [his death brings] [the ones made humbled and dying] [comfort and rest from work and from the curse of God].
Smoothed Sentence (Incorporating All Research Provided Below):
Analysis of the Passage Genesis 4:25–5:29
Other scholars have previously noticed a distinct pattern in this section of Genesis, which affords a more detailed study than would be expected from a simple genealogy. Everett Fox writes regarding Genesis 5:1:
Fox also notes regarding all of Genesis 5:
Their assessment that there is something more could be gleaned from this text is correct but does not go far enough in finding out what that insight is.
I would add one more note to the above, which strongly indicates that the writer is leading the reader to the kind of analysis of the names that we present in this short examination. The genealogy of the line of Adam to Noah both begins and ends with the name of the one listed being given a meaning. God already defined Adam’s name as “Man” (אָדָם ʾādhām*), in which the English word “man” and “Adam” are the exact same Hebrew word (אָדָם ʾādhām*).[i] Maass also notes, “This word does not occur in Akkadian[ii] with the meaning ‘man, mankind,” but the Akkadian words adamātu, ‘dark, red soil,’ and adamu, ‘red blood’ . . .”[iii]
The genealogy in view begins with Seth as the first man to be born. His mother Eve chose his name to be “Seth” and told us this reason. “She gave birth to another son, and named him Seth, for, she said, ‘God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him” (Gen 4:25).
None of the others in the genealogy are named until we get to the end when Lamech names his son, Noah: “Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed” (Gen 5:29).
In biblical studies, this “bracketing” of a text is called an inclusio[i] and serves to direct one’s attention to some idea that is found in the text between.
In biblical studies, this “bracketing” of a text is called an inclusiovi and serves to direct one’s attention to some idea that is found in the text between. Usually, it has something to do with how the inclusio is formed. In this text, the inclusio is formed by providing the meaning of the names for both the first and last person in the list. The lack of the text providing the meaning of the names for the rest raises the question as to why they were left out. It prompts the reader to ask what the other names mean, which
validates the purpose of the rest of this examination.
| Name | Likely Meaning | Research Notes To Define Each Name |
| Adam | Man, or Mankind | Man, Mankind, all of humanity.vii At the beginning of the Genealogy, we read, “He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man (lit. “Adam”) in the day when they were created” (Gen 5:2). |
| Seth (Heb. (ֵ֑שׁת Sheth | Appointed | Appointed (שָֽׁת shath), or, “God has appointed.”[i] |
| Enosh | Mortal (death) | “weak, feeble”[i] “mortal”[ii] “incurable”[iii] |
| Kenan | Redeem, Acquired, or To make a nest (as in weaving many strands together, interlock) | “Acquire” or “item acquired (or created),” “it’s the regular verb for a commercial purchase,”[i] e.g., redeem. “To make a nest”[ii] “One acquired; begotten. Same as Cainan = Possession. Their smith (fabricator).”[iii] |
| Mahalalel | The Shining One of God – Or – Praise of God – Or – Container or Mouth of the praise of God. Perhaps “the Word of God”? | Praise of God, cf. יְהַלֶּלְאֵל supr.[i] Ps 27:21 (מהלל mahalel) lit. means “container for praise.”[ii] Ps 27:21 LXX “a man is tested by the mouth of those who praise him.” Jeff Benner writes, “In Hebrew, this name is written as מהללאל (ma-ha-la-ley-eyl, Strong’s #4111) and is a combination of two words, מהלל and אל. The root of מהלל is הלל (ha-lal, Strong’s #1984) and means ‘to shine.’ This can be the shining of a light such as from a flame or the moon, but figuratively the shining of a person’s character such as his fame or pride. From this root comes the word מהלל (ma-ha-lal, Strong’s #4110) meaning ‘shining’ or ‘one who shines.’ The second word is אל (eyl, Strong’s #410), which literally means ‘mighty one,’ but is often transliterated as ‘El.’ The meaning of the nameמהללאל can be ‘The shining of El’ or ‘The shining one of El.’”[i] “The shining of El” seems similar to the writer of Hebrews saying that the Son is “the radiance of His (God’s) glory and the exact representation of His nature, . . .” (Heb 1:3). |
| Jared | to go/come down | “Descending, descent,” “to go down”: The Hebrew name (ירד yered, Strong’s #3382), “to descend/to come down” (יָרַד yrd).[i] |
| Enoch | Anointed, i.e., Christ/Messiah Prophesying the coming wrath of God upon the ungodly (Jude 14–15). Teaching righteousness (the Faith), obtaining the witness that he was approved by God. Then God took Him so that He would not taste death (Heb 11:5). | The name חנוך (hhanokh, Strong’s #2585) means “dedicated.” Derived from the verb root חנך (Hh.N.Kh, Strong’s #2596) meaning “to dedicate.”[i] Synonym of anoint, which is the meaning of “Messiah” and “Christ.” Teaching righteousness/Approved by God/Taken up to not see death/Author of the Faith: “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” Genesis 5:24. Enoch is the only one in Genesis 5 who never died. While Noah’s death is not recorded here, it is recorded later. And yes, it is important to note that Noah’s death is not recorded in this genealogy either (see discussion of Noah below). Scripture is purposely calling attention to the deaths of everyone from Adam who were “in his own likeness, according to his image” (Gen 5:3). We can see this emphasis in the repetitive formula, “So all the days that [name] lived were [number] years, and he died.” Further, none of the descendants of Cain in Genesis 4 are recorded as either dying or in the number of years they lived. Fox notes: “Pride of place on the list is occupied by the seventh member, Hanokh (English. “Enoch”), who is portrayed as the first man of God. . . . Hanokh’s life span, 365 years, exemplifies the number scheme of Genesis: as an expression of numerical perfection (the number of days in a year), it symbolizes moral perfection.”[ii] Enoch was identified in later Jewish mysticism with Metatron, the ‘Little Yahweh,’ or angel closest to God himself.[iii] This connection uniquely typifies Jesus Christ, who is widely held by scholars to be the Angel of Yahweh in His preincarnate form. He was a Preacher of righteousness, teaching righteousness AND that “the Lord comes with many thousands of His saints to execute judgment upon the ungodly, . . .” (Jude 14–15; taken from 1 Enoch 1:9); “pleasing to God”, “taken up so that he would not see death” (Heb 11:5) “To dedicate, initiate,” or could mean “founder” from Gen 4:17.[iv] Note Hebrews 12:2 below, where Jesus is called the author, i.e. “founder” of the Faith. Enoch is also a type of Jesus Christ, who obtained the witness that He was pleasing to God, was taken up so (Acts 1:11; Rev 12:4–5) that He would not see death (again), but it was impossible for death to hold him (Acts 2:24), or, he was raised up so that His body would not see corruption (Acts 2:24, 27; Ps 16:10). Writer of Hebrews says, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of [the] faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:2). |
| Methuselah | His death brings – Or – “When he is dead it shall be sent” | “His death brings.”xxiii Jeff Brenner writes, “This name is a combination of two words metu and shelahh. Strong’s dictionary states that this name means “man of the dart”. According to Strong, the root for metu is the word mat (#4962) which means “man” and the word shelach (#7973) means a weapon or missile (hence the translation of dart). But, there is another possible meaning for this name. The word metu may be derived from the word mot meaning death and the “u” is a suffix that means “their” – “their death.” There is no way to know for certain if the final vowel in metu was an “o” or an “u” as the vowel pointings that make that distinction are of fairly recent origin. If it was originally an “o” then the suffix would change to “his” – “his death.” The word shelach (missile or weapon) is the noun form of the verb shalach meaning “to send” (a missile or weapon that is sent). Shelach has the more literal meaning of “to send something.” We know have the possible meaning of “their death sends” or “his death sends.” Sounds like an incomplete sentence doesn’t it? Well, it is interesting to note that the year Methuselah died, something very big was sent – the flood. Methuselah’s name may be a prophecy that on the day of his death “his death will send” the flood.”xxiv “Methuselah (me-thu’-se-lah) = When he is dead it shall be sent; i.e., the flood; (root = to send; to dismiss; to stretch out; to be cast out). Messenger of death. A man of the javelin. It shall be sent (deluge). Man of the dart.”xxv Incidentally, Methuselah was the oldest man who ever lived, living 969 years. Further, per the Lord’s promise to Adam, that in the day that he ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would die. Because neither Adam nor any of his descendants lived past 1,000 years, scripture elsewhere has defined “a day with the Lord” as being a thousand years (Ps 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8). So, we can say that Methuselah lived for almost as long as what the Lord would allow. Given that Methuselah died in the exact same year of the Flood after living the longest life of anyone, and his name means, “his death brings,” we have another indication of the longsuffering and patience of God in judging sinners (2 Peter 3:9). |
| Lamech | the ones made low, humbled, depressed | The word (למך lmk) does not appear in Hebrew.xxvi So, we must guess what the meaning is. It could be a constructed word made up of (1) the particle ל)le), to or towards, and (2) the verb מוך)muk), be low.xxvii It could mean, to be humbled or made low, depressed. The despairing: Completion,xxviii maybe “the despairing,” as in “the one(s) who are in despair,” based on his lament when naming Noah. “Now he called his name Noah, saying, ‘This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed’ ” (Genesis 5:29). Note what Paul says, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” Romans 8:16–23 |
| Noah | comfort and rest [and life through faith] | Comfort and Rest (NT calls “a preacher of righteousness” 2 Peter 2:6). I believe it is important to note that while Noah does eventually die, the number of years of his life, as well as his death are not recorded in this genealogy (see discussion for Enoch above). The repetition of the formula, “So all the days that [name] lived were [number] years, and he died,” for every other name except Noah and Enoch; therefore, the absence of this phrase is meant to emphasize that death had no power over them. Further, Noah was the one who survived the wrath of God in the Flood and is the one whose actions by faith preserved all those with him. Therefore, Noah also represents those who survive the wrath of God by faith and live. |
Other General Thoughts Concerning The Entire Text:
- There are several stark differences between Cain’s genealogy in chapter 4 and Adam’s in chapter 5:
- In Cain’s, there is no record of the ages of the men when they had their first son.
- In Adam’s line, it begins with a woman who is named while Cain’s line begins with a woman who isn’t named.
- Cain’s line ends with two women being involved with birthing the last generation, and both are named; whereas, in Adam’s line, no woman is involved nor named.
- In Cain’s, there is no record of how long they lived before and after their first son, or that they even died; however, in Adam’s genealogy, with only two exceptions, this formula is repeated for every name “So all the days that [name] lived were [number] years, and he died.” For Enoch, the phrase “and he died” is omitted. For Noah, the entire phrase is omitted.
- In Adam’s genealogy, this second phrase is also repeated for every name: “[Name] lived [number] years, and became the father of [Name].”
- The only exception is Noah. For Noah, the text reads, “Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japhet.”
- There is no indication if these three were triplets, or the birth order.
- From these three men, all the nations of the earth were born, which is important in the discussion of Noah below.
- The third phrase is also repeated for every name except Enoch and Noah: “[Name] lived [number] years after he became the father of [name], and he had sons and daughters.”
- For Noah, this phrase is completely omitted.
- For Enoch, the phrase is the same except instead of “lived” it is replaced with “walked with God.” So, it reads, “Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had sons and daughters.”
- A few things are similar between Cain’s and Adam’s genealogies that seem
important:
a. The last man to die in each genealogy is named “Lamech.”
b. The last man of each line who has sons, have three, who are all named.
c. They begin with the patriarch having sexual relations with their respective wives, and the first descendant is born. After that, women are excluded, except the last in Cain’s line, Lamech, who had two wives (Adah and Zillah) and daughter (Naamah). Naamah is the only daughter named in
either genealogy.
- Many of the names are directly defined in the text, but not all. Most of the other
names are easily related to other well-known words.
a. The names defined in the text: Adam, Seth, & Noah.
b. The names closely related to other known words: Kenan, Mahalalel, & Jared.
[1] Fritz Maass, “אָדָם,” ed. G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren, trans. John T. Willis, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977), 75.
[1] Akkadian is an important cognate language to Hebrew as well as Babylonian, and later, Arabic. Akkadian linguistic research provides many insights into the meaning of rare and infrequently used Hebrew words in the OT. The entry for the Akkadian Language on the website of the Yale Department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations “Named after the city of Akkad in northern Babylonia, Akkadian was the most important language spoken and written in the ancient Near East between the third and first millennia BCE. Akkadian belongs to the Semitic language family and is related to Arabic and Hebrew. It can be divided into a number of dialects, the most important of which are Old Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian.” https://nelc.yale.edu/languages/akkadian. Online. Accessed 09 July 2024 [1] Ibid.
[1] “Inclusio is a literary device in which a writer places similar material at the beginning and ending of a work or section of a work. For example, Mark’s gospel contains an inclusio in which Jesus is recognized (at his baptism and crucifixion) as God’s Son.” https://enterthebible.org/glossary/inclusio. Online. Accessed 10 July 2024.
[1] “אָדָם ʾadham, meaning “man” or the proper name “Adam” (Gen. 4:25; 5:1–5; 1 Ch. 1:1), usually appears in prose texts with the article, and in poetic texts without the article.2 Predominantly, this word occurs as a collective singular designating a class (as “man” in English), and therefore can be translated by “mankind” or as a plural “men.” Fritz Maass, “אָדָם,” ed. G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren, trans. John T. Willis, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977), 75
[1] “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him” (Gen 4:25).
[1] Akk. enēšu means “to be weak, feeble.”
[1] “ʾenosh is often translated “mortal” or something similar, which would agree with the original meaning “to be weak.” But there are only a few passages in which this meaning is clearly intended, and which would permit a corresponding distinction between ʾenosh and ʾadham. Of course, the creatureliness, frailty, and danger of man is often emphasized in the OT, especially in Ps. 103:15 (as for ʾenosh, “his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field”); Job 7:1 (“Has not ʾenosh a hard service upon earth …?”); 15:14; and 25:4 (where ʾenosh appears in parallelism with yeludh ʾishshah, “born of woman”). In addition, we should mention the statements that emphasize the distance between God and man: Ps. 9:20f.(19f.) (“… Let not ʾenosh prevail; let the goyim, ‘nations,’ know that they are but ʾenosh!”); 10:18 (“… so that ʾenosh who is of the earth [!] may strike terror no more”); Job 5:17 (“happy is the man [ʾashre ʾenosh] whom God reproves”); 33:12, 26 (God is greater than ʾenosh and heals him); 9:2; 10:4; 13:9; 14:19; and 32:8.” Maass, “אֱנוֹשׁ,” TDOT, 345–47.
[1] “like the Biblical Heb. ʾanash I, 2 S. 12:15; cf. ʾanush, “incurable,” which occurs 8 times in the OT.” Maass, “אֱנוֹשׁ,” TDOT, 345.
[1] https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Kenan.html. Online. Accessed 01 June 2024.
[1] Ibid.
[1] Stelman Smith and Judson Cornwall, The Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names (North Brunswick, NJ: Bridge-Logos, 1998), 153.
[1] Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver, and Charles Augustus Briggs, Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977), 239.
[1] https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Mahalalel.html. Online. Accessed 12 June 2024.
[1] Definition of Hebrew Names: Mahalaleel | AHRC (ancient-hebrew.org). Online. Accessed 19 June 2024.
[1] Cf. G. Wehmeier, “עלה, to go up,” TLOT 2:891–92; Eugene H. Merrill, “ירד,” NIDOTTE 2:534–35; Cf. Jason Michael Whitlock, “The Coming Of The Lord As An Extended Unified Complex of Events: A Proposed Response To The Two ‘Second Comings’ Objection To Pretribulationism” (PhD Diss., Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2015), 48; https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/names/Jared.htm. Online. Accessed 31 May 2024.
[1] https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/names/Enoch.htm. Online. Accessed 19 June 2024.
[1] Fox, Genesis and Exodus, 29.
[1] Paul J. Achtemeier, Harper & Row and Society of Biblical Literature, Harper’s Bible Dictionary (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985), 267.
[1] The name Enoch may be derived from the West Semitic word meaning “to dedicate, initiate” (חנך, chnk, S.C. Reif, “Dedicated to חנך, chnk”). It may also mean “founder,” based on the first city founded by Cain in Gen 4:17.
[1] Jeff A. Brenner, The Ancient Hebrew Language and Alphabet: Understanding the Ancient Hebrew Language of the Bible Based on Ancient Hebrew Culture and Thought (eBook: Ancient Hebrew Research Center, 2002), 6; https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/. Online. Accessed 30 March 2024.
[1] https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/names/Methuselah.htm. Online. Accessed 19 June 2024.
[1] Stelman Smith and Judson Cornwall, The Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names (North Brunswick, NJ: Bridge-Logos, 1998), 173.
[1] https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Lamech.html. Online. Accessed 01 June 2024.
[1] Ibid.
[1] Lamech lived to be 777 years old—a number that Hess argues “signifies completion” (Hess, “Lamech,” 23).